BMB Vol.1 Chapter 0 Part 5

Even after committing the biggest mistake of one’s life, people sleep when they’re sleepy.

It was a system. Sleep was not just about resting, but an amazing natural healing system of living beings that heals the body’s wounds, calms the startled mind, and reboots the body to live another day.

So, justifying to himself that this was what his body wanted, and that he absolutely wasn’t just a heavy sleeper, Seonwoo slept the entire taxi ride, got out of the taxi in a half-asleep state, stumbled home almost crawling, and then collapsed onto the bed and truly passed out.

Yes, that expression is accurate. He passed out. With his mobile phone in his hand.

After lying passed out on the bed for several hours, Seonwoo finally opened his eyes around sunset and sat on the bed, looking around blankly.

Usually, it takes him a while to boot up after waking up, but today, perhaps because his sleeping time had changed, he seemed to be lagging particularly badly.

“…I’m thirsty.”

With his eyes half-open, Seonwoo got up from the bed, scratching his stomach. Then he instinctively turned on the bedroom light and headed towards the kitchen, stumbling.

He passed through the living room, which was dim as the sun had set, towards the kitchen. As he opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water to drink, something flashed through his mind.

“Which shitty bastard made this loser drink again?”

At that voice, sounding like the voice of the grim reaper right behind him, he suddenly spat out the water he was drinking.

“Didn’t I say I’d make you all pay if I ever caught this bastard drinking again?”

That voice, unnecessarily clear and vivid as if it were real, made his legs go weak.

Indeed, the body’s healing ability was tremendous. After sleeping and waking up, the broken film of his memory reconnected. This is why people need to sleep well and rest well, but before he could marvel at the mysterious healing power of sleep, a scream burst out.

“Aaaargh!”

As the memory came back unnecessarily clearly, he gripped the water bottle tightly, causing the remaining water inside to surge up. And that water wet his hand while bringing back memories he wished would never resurface.

“You damn foal! Get down right now!”

“No! No! Don’t remember!”

“If you don’t want to face something truly scary, get down from here right now. Now.”

“Aaaargh!”

Even jumping up and down in place, kicking the kitchen island, and throwing the water bottle he was holding didn’t stop it.

His memory was running wild right now. Even though he beat his head and flapped around, begging for these memories that should never be recalled and that he never wanted to recall again to disappear, it didn’t stop.

The stop button wasn’t working. Like the flashbacks people have right before death, as the memories flowed by quickly, this time he banged his forehead against the refrigerator.

“Aargh!”

While he was screaming, hugging the refrigerator and headbanging as if at a concert, his mobile phone rang. He stopped moving, startled by the sound. Then he fell into thought for a moment.

Who could be calling?

It’s not hyung. Hyung would never call me first. That means it’s most likely family or friends.

Since what he needed most right now was the touch of others, he dashed to the bedroom and checked the phone he had thrown on the bed. The name ‘Seyoon’ was flashing.

At that moment, it was the most welcome name in the world, and he quickly pressed the call button and shouted.

“Hey! What should I do?”

Surprised by the words that came out as soon as he answered the phone, Seyoon shot back.

“What? Is hyung going to sue you?”

“That’s not it, I remember everything now! I remember it all!”

“Ah… I thought it was something else. Well, that’s good. We can defend ourselves too. So what happened?”

“I pounced on him.”

As he shouted that, collapsing onto the bed and kicking off the blanket with his feet, Seyoon unexpectedly replied calmly.

“That’s not surprising at all, so nevermind that. What I’m curious about is why hyung didn’t throw you out the window when you pounced on him? You didn’t tie hyung up, did you?”

“…I don’t remember that part?”

“Then you don’t remember everything, do you?”

At Seyoon’s scolding that he forgot the most important part, Seonwoo tried to recall his memory again. Though it was patchy, he remembered most of the important parts.

He didn’t remember how it ended up that way, but he didn’t remember tying up hyung. Above all, he’s terribly bad at tying knots, so he can’t even tie his shoelaces well. In the first place, hyung wouldn’t have let himself be tied up, and even if he did tie him, hyung could easily undo knots tied by him, so that’s definitely not it.

“I didn’t tie him up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. There were no ropes at hyung‘s house.”

“You don’t only tie with ropes.”

“Then what do you tie with?”

“…You can look that up later… Did you call hyung?”

At Seyoon’s question asking if he had called and apologized unconditionally, Seonwoo suddenly came to his senses. Come to think of it, he had been drowsy the entire way home and passed out as soon as he arrived, so he hadn’t even sent a text message, let alone make a call.

“I haven’t called yet. What time is it now? I’ve been sleeping this whole time.”

“It’s past 6 PM.”

At those words, he lifted his head to look at the clock on the bedside table, and the number 6 was floating on the digital clock.

Too much time had passed. He had intended to sleep just a bit, but he ended up sleeping deeply because he was too tired. Even though he hadn’t particularly lacked sleep yesterday, the mental and physical damage was so great that his body demanded sleep.

It’s absolutely not that he was escaping reality out of fear. No, maybe he did want to avoid it a little, but anyway, it wasn’t intentional.

“Hey, what should I do? What should I do? This time hyung really won’t let me off. Has there ever been such an extreme nuisance?”

“You’ve become quite smart, Lee Seonwoo. You even know that you’re a nuisance.”

As Seyoon whistled, saying people really do evolve, Seonwoo kicked his feet while lying down.

“Hey, don’t mock me and give me proper advice! I acted like a crazy person and pounced on hyung! Even when hyung kicked and threw me, I kept coming at him, is there such a zombie bastard in this world?”

“Ah, that’s perfect. Zombie. A zombie that doesn’t die even when killed.”

“I said don’t mock me! What should I do?”

“I already gave you the answer. Call right now and apologize. Kneel down, beg sincerely, bow your head. And write a blood oath saying you’ll never drink again.”

“What if he still doesn’t forgive me and kills me?”

“No matter how much it’s Eungyo-hyung, he can’t kill you. After all, you’re a scientist protected by the state.”

“But what if he still kills me?”

“Then you die. As a rapist, do you have anything to say if the victim kills you?”

“Hey!”

At Seyoon’s cold words, Seonwoo tried to jump up from his seat, but a pain that enveloped his body again made him scream and collapse back down. As he groaned, breathing heavily, Seyoon clicked his tongue softly.

“Does it still hurt?”

“I feel like I’m dying…”

“That’s what you get for causing trouble…”

“I’m going to quit drinking.”

“Engrave that resolution in your heart and run to hyung right now to beg. Write a blood oath if he tells you to, and get it notarized.”

“…What if he still doesn’t forgive me?”

“That’s for you to deal with.”

“…Can’t you come with me?”

“If you’d live by me going with you, I might consider it, but if you’re going to die anyway, there’s no need for me to die too, right? If you’re going to die anyway, die alone.”

“Hey…”

“Accident cleanup should be quick and decisive. Don’t drag it out unnecessarily, deal with it quickly. If this reaches Eunsoo’s ears, Eunsoo might really kill you. Eungyo-hyung at least has some discretion, but when it comes to hyung’s matters, Kang Eunsoo has no discretion or whatever.”

“…That’s true.”

“So hurry up and move your butt. Anyway, Eungyo-hyung has put up with your antics for the past 10 years, so he probably won’t kill you over this much. And as I said earlier, you’re not even a mouthful for hyung. If he really disliked it, he would have thrown you out of the apartment and disguised it as an accident, so just go and beg.”

“…You think so?”

“I think so.”

“Still, can’t you come with me?”

As Seonwoo clung to him once more, hoping against hope, Seyoon cleanly cut him off as expected.

“Rejected. Anyway, now that your memory has returned, quickly go and beg sincerely.”

“Alright, fine.”

“If you’ve made up your mind, move quickly. And make sure to record your apology.”

At Seyoon’s insistence, worrying about lawsuits first like the lawyer he is, Seonwoo answered sulkily.

“I said I got it…”

“Then, I’m busy so I’ll hang up now.”

With that final greeting, the call ended abruptly, and Seonwoo sprawled out on the bed. After groaning for a while lying on his bed, he turned his gaze again to look at the mobile phone in his hand.

Should he call, or send a text message?

No, he’s still a bit tired, so should he sleep again for just a moment? If he falls asleep, he won’t have to call hyung right now… As Seonwoo was contemplating this, he soon shook his head.

It’s already too late. And if Seyoon finds out, he’ll nag at him again. Thinking that he should at least send an apology text even if not a lawsuit, Seonwoo sat up on the bed, assumed a proper sitting position, and held his phone with a solemn attitude.

But his hands were trembling. Even though this wasn’t the first time he was sending such a message to hyung, he trembles every time he sends one.

With trembling hands, just as he always did, he slowly typed out a tedious message: I’m sorry, I’ve committed a mortal sin, I’ll never do it again, I’ll quit drinking, etc., and then stopped.

Then, after hesitating for a moment whether to press the send button or not, he closed his eyes tightly, pressed the send button, and then buried the phone under the blanket as if he had seen something scary.

“Be busy, keep being busy. No, I hope you’ve gone on a business trip!”

As he was praying with his hands clasped, not even a few seconds had passed when a beeping sound hit his ears.

Thinking ‘Why so fast?’, he very slowly, with just his fingertips, carefully moved the blanket to see the screen, and hyung’s number was there.

Hoping it would be a message saying he’s busy and will see him later, he carefully checked the message as if handling a bomb about to explode, and a short sentence was there.

—Come out right now.

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